Fans bicker as Demon Deacons make exit

By Adam Smith / Times-News

Published: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 01:37 AM.

“Sadly, we can’t play again this season and get another chance at it,” Miller-McIntyre said. “It would’ve been nice if we could’ve made a run just for him to truly experience the ACC Tournament, instead of him losing in the first round.”

Then a commotion erupted in the seats behind the Demon Deacons bench, a squabble in which a spectator came down the aisle to scream, presumably at Jeff Bzdelik, and another fan stood up in apparent defense of the embattled coach during the game’s final minute.

And so ended an uncomfortable Thursday for Wake Forest, a 75-62 loser to Maryland in the night session of the first round at Greensboro Coliseum.

When this day dawned, an advertisement on the front page of the Greensboro News & Record sports section blared the disapproval of some disgruntled Wake Forest fans, who bought the newspaper space to call for Bzdelik’s firing.

Later, quiet hung in the team’s locker room, after a 35-30 halftime lead had evaporated into the frustration of 8½ minutes without a field goal down the stretch, and the Demon Deacons’ seventh straight ACC Tournament loss had become a reality.

“A tough way to go out,” said guard C.J. Harris, Wake Forest’s lone scholarship senior, who never experienced a victory in this tournament during his career.

Wake Forest’s most recent ACC Tournament win remains six years ago in 2007, the late Skip Prosser’s final season as coach.

Seventh-seeded Maryland (21-11) pulled away on the strength of a 24-8 run and advanced to meet second-seeded Duke in tonight’s quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Bzdelik, the third-year coach with a 34-60 record at Wake Forest, was left fielding questions Thursday night about the part of the fan base that’s growing increasingly vocal and irritated.

“I don’t worry about things I don’t have any control over,” he said. “I just do my job and what I know is this: We have built a really strong foundation without compromising any values or integrity at Wake Forest University. And there is a very bright future.”

Harris scored 19 points against Maryland, but needed 15 shots from the field to do so, and went 0-for-4 from the field in the second half.

Devin Thomas added 14 points as the 10th-seeded Demon Deacons (13-18) closed their third straight losing season by dropping 10 of their final 13 games.

Dez Wells supplied 14 of his 21 points after halftime to pace five players in double digits for the Terrapins, who led 56-55 when 7-foot-1 center Alex Len picked up his fourth foul with 6:56 remaining, and promptly responded with a game-clinching burst.

Then Charles Mitchell’s offensive rebound and subsequent three-point play, followed by Len’s face-up jumper off the glass, provided a pair of eight-point leads – as Wake Forest managed only free throws and botched possessions.

“It’s been the same story over and over again,” Wake Forest forward Travis McKie said. “We play good for 20 or 25, 30 or 35, but not a full 40 minutes. The minutes we don’t play as a consistent unit and make stops and get buckets, other teams capitalize on that.”

All told, the Demon Deacons went from the 10:03 mark of the second half to the 1:26 with zilch from the field.

The score changed during that debilitating stretch from Wake Forest up by one (at 52-51) to Maryland up by 12 (at 72-60).

“We all completely believed that we could make a run in the tournament. Just got to put two halves together,” Harris said. “We didn’t take care of the ball like we were supposed to. They got out in transition because of that. And, uh, yeah …”

Harris’ quiet answer trailed off at that moment.

A couple of feet away in the hushed locker room, Wake Forest guard Codi Miller-McIntyre called it an upsetting, emotional finish to the season because of the finality that was stamped on Harris’ career.

“Sadly, we can’t play again this season and get another chance at it,” Miller-McIntyre said. “It would’ve been nice if we could’ve made a run just for him to truly experience the ACC Tournament, instead of him losing in the first round.”